Cassell Military Paperback: The Fall of Carthage

Bruce in Fort Myers: The author does an excellent job covering an area that lacks many resources. This is my first time reading about this era and I found it very interesting and informative.

The Carthaginian names cause some problems due to the fact that they use the same name for many different people and there isn't much documentation from their side for historians to research. But I recommend this book to anyone looking for a new look at Rome in the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC.

United States on Nov 13, 2023

Len A.: Enjoy the author's books and this era of history. Sadly this book is not aimed at me but at historians who like full details of the armies and battle formations.

United Kingdom on Oct 21, 2023

MAURO: Goldsworthy come al solito è bravo a tenere il giusto mezzo tra narrazione ed erudizione ed i suoi libri sono godibili. Consigliato.

Italy on May 03, 2023

Anĉjo Bruligas: Adian Goldworthy is a scholar, literary critic and historian. He does not present the dramatic and patriotic portrayal of Livy, for example, and call that the history, as romantic as that would be. He presents the data, explaining what we know and what we don’t know. It makes the tale less titillating, but more interesting, because you get a sense that what he says did happen, really did. For this reason, Adrian Goldsworthy is one of my favorite authors.

Cons:

After starting reading this, I stopped reading it at one point because it was confusing. Carthage only had five or six names available and they reused them over and over again. I think someone may have been named Rebecca or something at some point, but she was soon denounced as a freak, and laughed out of town.

Some of the most famous Carthaginians in history were the following: Hannibal and Hannibal and Hannibal and Hamilcar and Hamilcar and Bomilcar and Hamilcar and Hamilco and Hamilcar and Bomilcar and Hamilco and Hannibal.

I know it sounds simple, you just call everyone by the same name and you want get confused about who you are talking about. In practice, as logical as it sounds, it just...

United States on Jul 06, 2015

JPS: This book, while perhaps not perfect and containing some questionable statements, is probably the best introduction, overview and starting point for someone wanting to get to grips with the Punic Wars. It is also an excellent introduction to Rome’s dominance of the Mediterranean and of Roman imperialism, more generally, with these elements, and the “Roman way” of waging war, being the author’s real speciality.

Perhaps the main merit of this book is to clearly identify why Rome won the first two epic and lengthy wars according to Goldsworthy. As the author shows, Roman commanders and their legions and allies were not necessarily and inherently better than their Carthaginian opponents either on sea or even on land. What really made the difference was Roman relentlessness and the extraordinary level of commitment to fighting wars to the finish backed by a much larger manpower pool that they were willing to use until they had achieved a total and unquestionable victory. This included the ability to suffer appalling losses in both wars, and still refuse to make peace. This attitude that was very much at odds with that of any Hellenistic State, or any other state for that...

United Kingdom on Jun 25, 2014

Baraniecki Mark Stuart: Adrain Goldsworthy has a talent for combining excellent scholarship with readability to provide, in this reviewers opinion, some the best history writing about the Ancient World. His "Caesar, life of a Colossus" was a masterpiece and this book shows the same characteristics with valuable insight into the reasons for the eventual Roman triumph and Carthaginian defeat.

From the Carthaginian viewpoint it was a story of great successes with eventual failure, and Goldsworthy clearly shows how years of Carthaginian campaigning in Spain forged the most experienced and capable army in the Ancient world. This was the army that Hannibal led across the Alps and used to inflict massive defeats on the Romans legions at Lake Trasimene and Cannae. He suggests that (in the context of ancient warfare), the Carthaginians could have expected the defeated Romans to come to terms and end the fighting but they didn't, and the reasons for this refusal form the fascinating explanatory core of the book.

Both armies incorporated allies but the Romans consistently received more loyalty, which Goldsworthy connects to the willingness of the Romans to extend citizenship and rights to defeated...

United Kingdom on Jan 26, 2014

Filthy Raider: Almost, but not quite is how I would describe this Adrian Goldsworthy history of the three Punic Wars. Saying that, you won't get better at the moment.

The fact that at the time the wars started Carthage was actually far more powerful than Rome is something to think about. The sorry fact is that because Rome destroyed the city at the end of the Third Punic War means that any history of Carthage will always be very one sided. Even today we can get first hand accounts of the German or Japanese perspective in the Second World War, but Rome wiped Carthage off the map.

The three wars are covered elaborately, and you walk away feeling you have been well educated. For a similar 'lesson' get Goldsworthy's book on Julius C - excellent.

He also uses several historical sources to get a better idea of what did happen, as obviously because the Romans won so overwhelming there is a lot of 'propaganda' showing the Romans in a better light, and Goldsworthy leads us through this. Did they 'salt' the earth after razing the city? Well, it's doubtful they actually razed the city RIGHT to the ground in the first place.

For me this only feels short of five stars in two...

United Kingdom on Apr 01, 2010

Metallurgist: This book was originally published under the title "The Punic Wars", which I think better describes the book than the "Fall of Carthage" because the book is about all three of the Punic Wars. Most books on the Punic Wars deal only with the second one - the one with Hannibal and the elephants crossing the Alps. As the author points out, we know much more about the second war, so it is not surprising that this one gets much more attention. However, the first and third wars are important and should not be ignored. The first explains why the second occurred and the third finishes the story of the conflict. This book is very interesting and I learned a lot more than just about the battles of the Punic Wars. I learned about the Roman army of the period, about the Roman political system and politics of the time, and why these wars were fought and their consequences.

The fact that this is a republication of a book is important, because this version has been shrunk down in physical size (but not page length). The original is, according to the Amazon description, 9.2x6.3 inches, whereas this book is only 7.7x5 inches. To achieve this smaller size, the size of the print has been...

United States on Aug 22, 2009